Thursday, October 11, 2018

Skipjack Island
Wilkes originally named the two adjacent islands north of Waldron
Island as the Ship Jack Islands, probably after fish found in the
area and commonly referred to as shipjacks. In 1853 the U.S. Coast
Survey noted the contrast in the islands' appearances and renamed
them Wooded and Bare islands. The latter was renamed as Penguin
Island in 1858. Subsequently, the islands were officially charted
under the present names of Skipjack and Bare islands. (Washington
State Place Names)

Risk
of power outages rises in Puget Sound after Canadian pipeline
explosion cuts off natural-gas supply
A pipeline explosion in British Columbia on Tuesday has cut off
the flow of Canadian natural gas to Washington, raising the risk
of power outages in Puget Sound. Puget Sound Energy, the state’s
largest private energy utility, said its natural-gas supply from
the pipeline was halted between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. Wednesday. The
company hasn’t been informed when the flow will resume and is
looking to make up for the deficit by tapping all other energy
sources that aren’t “already spoken for,” Duane Henderson, a PSE
gas-systems integrity manager, said by phone. If the situation
isn’t resolved soon and the energy deficit persists, the company
may be forced to cut power to some of its customers, he said.
Agueda Pacheco-Flores reports. (Seattle Times) See also: Precautions
taken in wake of B.C. gas pipeline explosion Local
companies including two oil refineries, a natural gas supplier and
a regional power utility are expecting to be impacted by a natural
gas pipeline explosion that occurred late Tuesday in British
Columbia. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald) And
also: UBC
issues urgent alert, braces for natural gas shortage after
pipeline explosion (CBC)

Federal court won't reopen case of captive orca Lolita
Activist groups have lost the latest battle in a decadeslong fight to free an orca named Lolita from the Miami Seaquarium. The Miami Herald
reports a federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected a petition to
reopen a lawsuit over Seaquarium’s treatment of Lolita. Lolita lives in
the country’s smallest orca aquarium, and has been Seaquarium’s star
attraction since she was captured off the Puget Sound in 1970. The
decision says that, at around 51, Lolita’s age makes the case “unique,”
but there’s no threat of serious harm that could trigger a federal
animal welfare law violation. The court also couldn’t identify a
“realistic means” to return her to the wild without being harmed.
(Associated Press)

Heiltsuk
First Nation sues sunken tugboat operator, B.C. and federal
governments
A B.C. First Nation is suing the operator of a sunken tugboat that
spilled thousands of litres of diesel into waters near Bella
Bella. The Nathan E. Stewart spilled an estimated 110,000 litres
of diesel and another 2,000 litres of lubricants after it ran
aground in the Seaforth Channel on Oct. 13, 2016. The Heiltsuk
First Nation says the spill contaminated valuable clam beds worth
up to $200,000 annually to the Indigenous community. Subsequent
reports found the sailor on watch fell asleep before the crash.
Jon Hernandez reports. (CBC)

‘Historic’ Wildland Fire Funding Request Goes to Washington’s Legislature
Washington Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz is asking the state
legislature to nearly double funding to manage and respond to wildfire.
Since 2008, Washington’s Department of Natural Resources has received
nearly $21 million dollars on average from the legislature to pay for
fire suppression annually. But every year for the last decade, the DNR
has had to go back to the legislature after the fire season to ask for
more than twice the original allotment to cover costs.... This year
Franz is requesting $55 million dollars for the next two-year budget
cycle. She wants to create 30 full-time, year-round leadership
firefighting positions. Her request includes nearly a million dollars
for seven new outreach specialists to educate the public about fire.
Franz also wants $17 million dollars in capital funds to thin fuels and
address forest health across the state. Emily Schwing reports. (KNKX)

Michael
Lewis Wonders Who’s Really Running the Government
Michael Lewis is the poet laureate of computer-driven data
analysis. He has written a series of wildly successful and
eminently readable books about the Information Age revolutions in
two fields of American obsession, finance and sports (with clever
side-trips into behavioral psychology and economics). He has done
this in a breezy, pellucid manner, with a rare talent for
explaining abstruse concepts — say, collateralized debt
obligations — so that even I can understand them. His technique is
deceptively simple: The stories are told through sketches of
brilliant, eccentric people, experts in their fields, who tend to
speak in the same effervescent, colloquial way that Lewis writes.
You can’t help liking them. Now, though, Lewis has taken on his
most difficult challenge: He has chosen to apotheosize three
obscure government agencies — the Department of Energy, the
Department of Agriculture and the Department of Commerce. In “The
Fifth Risk,” his heroes are federal bureaucrats. Book
reviewed by Joe Klein. (NY Times)

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